St John’s – Prime Minister Gaston Browne has hinted that the general elections, constitutionally due in 2023, could be held “as early as November next year” as he reacted to the decision by the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) Monday to name its first four candidates for the next election.
Predicting that his ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) would improve on the 15 of the 17 seats it won in the 2018 snap election, Browne said that it would sweep all the seats.
He said he was not shaken by the four candidates named so far by the UPP, describing them as a school drop-out, a non-achiever, a “bunch of losers claiming the ability to ‘rescue’ country”.
“They are the ones to be rescued from their numerous failures”.
Browne, writing on his Facebook page, said that UPP leader Harold Lovell, who failed to win his seat in the 2018 poll, is a “perpetual loser . . . not attractive to winners”.
“Why don’t they first demonstrate their ability to rescue themselves; to show some level of competence and achievement, to secure the confidence of the electorate?”
If Browne calls the election in November next year, it will be the second consecutive occasion that voters here will go to the polls ahead of the constitutional deadline.
The last election on March 21, 2018, came 15 months before the polls were constitutionally due and the ABLP increased its majority by one seat, while the UPP was only able to win one seat. The other seat went to the Barbuda’s People’s Movement (BPM). (CMC)
